Battle Lines Being Drawn

"If a person charged with treason denies his guilt, how many persons must testify against him before he can be convicted?"
"If a president does not wish to sign a bill, how many days is he allowed in which to return it to Congress for consideration?"
"If the United States wishes to purchase land for an arsenal and have exclusive legislative authority over it, consent is required from [fill in the blank]."

Could you answer these questions if they were asked on a literacy test which was a requirement to obtain the right to vote? These questions were on an Alabaman Voting literacy test used between 1964 and 65. There were over 100 tests which could be used at the discrepancy of the panel and use the evidence that if you missed even one question, you could be denied the right to vote. If you were black and got every answer correct, the panel could still decide you were unqualified. Of course the panel also had the ability to ignore your mistakes, but this only happened if you were the right race or nationality.

In fact, whites rarely if ever had to take the test. You can download a pre Voting Rights Alabama literacy test in PDF form here and take the test yourself.

This is essentially what Tom Tancredo, the former California Republican representative and ex presidential candidate called for in his kick off speech of the National Tea Party Convention in Nashville yesterday.

Tancredo ripped into John McCain, "the cult of multiculturalism" and the President, referring to him repeatedly as Barack Hussein Obama, a committed socialist ideologue, stating that he was elected because "we do not have a civics, literacy test before people can vote in this country."

The Republicans are scrambling to assure themselves that The Tea Partiers are not the beginning of a splinter party. In fact Rush Limbaugh gave the marching orders yesterday, stating that it wasn't going to happen.

He probably is right, the Republicans are well on their way to embracing the retro racism that has empowered this fear driven populist movement.

Today,The NAACP released its annual report card looking at how federal lawmakers voted on civil rights issues, such as hate crimes, D.C. voting rights, and expanding children’s health insurance. Here is a look at some of the main points from the report:

– All Senate Republicans got an F but two (Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, Maine — they got C’s)

– All Senate Democrats and Independents got A’s, B’s or Incompletes
– Senator Arlen Specter, R-to-D-Penn., got a B

– All House Republicans but 6 got an F — 5 of those 6 got D’s — 1 got a C: Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida.

– House Republicans scored the lowest of an sub group.

– All BUT 23 House Democrats got A’s, B’s or Incompletes
– All Congressman who scored a 100% were Democrats
– Of the CBC Members ALL but 2 got A’s, Rep. Artur Davis, D-Ala., who is moderating his stances in prep for a gubernatorial run, got a B.